If you try and access HBO Max outside the United States, you’ll run into an error saying “Sorry, HBO MAX isn’t available in your region yet.” HBO Max is a US-based streaming service that’s only available in the US.
Even if you’re a paying HBO Max subscriber, the streaming service still won’t work. This means if you’re on vacation or are overseas for a particular reason, you can’t access something that you’re paying for, which is obviously frustrating.
The reason this is happening is because HBO Max doesn’t have the rights to broadcast its content internationally. It only has the rights to broadcast its content within the US.
Broadcast rights are highly competitive. Streaming services often bid against each other to get the rights to certain content. If HBO Max was to make itself available in a country where it doesn’t own the rights to broadcast its content, it would face severe punishments as it would be breaching copyright and licensing agreements other streaming services may have purchased.
To prevent these punishments, HBO blocks anyone outside the US from accessing its service.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to watch HBO Max anywhere in the world. All you need is a reliable VPN. A VPN will allow you to trick HBO Max into thinking you’re accessing the platform from within the US. This will give you access to all of the content anywhere in the world.
Before you jump into signing up for any old VPN, though, it’s important to know that not every VPN will work with HBO Max. Because VPNs can allow you to watch HBO Max in locations where it doesn’t have the rights to broadcast its content, HBO tries to block VPNs from accessing its platform.
These VPN blocking techniques can be very difficult for VPNs to get around. Therefore in order to watch HBO Max reliably outside the Us, you need a VPN that works well with the streaming service.
To help you find a VPN that will work with HBO Max, we’ve tried and tested several VPNs, testing them over several categories.
Below we have created a guide on what we have found are the best VPNs to watch HBO Max reliably anywhere in the world.
See also:
What makes a good VPN for HBO Max?
The most important feature that differentiates a good VPN for HBO Max and a bad one is the VPNs ability to work reliably with the streaming service. What this means is, does it have the ability to get around HBO Max’s VPN-blocking techniques? The best VPNs have measures in place to ensure that HBO Max cannot block all of their IP addresses and render the VPN useless.
To get around these blocks, the best VPNs use their speed, security and servers to ensure HBO Max cannot identify and block their IP addresses.
If you’re looking for a VPN for HBO Max, it needs to be fast. Because VPNs reroute your data through their servers, they can add latency to the connection meaning it will be a little slower than usual. If a VPN doesn’t have fast servers, the latency will cause issues like buffering and stuttering when watching the streaming service. Fast servers will ensure this doesn’t happen.
Security is another very important factor. A secure VPN doesn’t allow any online services to identify your online data. This means you can surf the web anonymously without security risks. If a VPN isn’t secure, HBO Max can access your data and essentially identify you’re using a VPN and block your connection.
When it comes to servers, not all VPNs are created equal. The best VPNs for HBO Max have servers all over the world. VPNs are reliant on their network of servers as this network is what allows you to reroute your online data and watch HBO Max anywhere in the world. The best VPNs for HBO Max have numerous US servers. The more US VPN servers the VPN has the higher your chance of watching HBO Max reliably internationally.
How do we test the best VPNs for HBO Max?
We test the best VPNs for HBO Max over multiple criteria:
- We test how secure the VPN is: We do this by running it through DNS leak tests. If the VPN has a DNS leak issue, it has an issue with its security, as internet service providers (ISPs) can still potentially see your online data. The best VPNs don’t come across these sorts of issues.
- The number of servers: The best VPNs have thousands of servers around the world. The more servers, the better. Lesser VPNs, especially free VPNs, don’t have many servers meaning there’s less opportunity for you to surf the web anonymously.
- Speed: We measure the speed of a VPN by doing speed tests for multiple servers worldwide. We then compare this to our base internet speed with a VPN turned off.
- Compatibility with streaming services: A critical use case for VPNs is the ability to access geo-blocked streaming services. Unfortunately, these services try and prevent VPNs from accessing their platforms. The best VPNs have measures in place to get around these blocks. When testing a VPN, we try it with several geo-blocked streaming services. The best VPNs will allow you to watch all the leading streaming services worldwide.
- Price: Based on our research, the average cost of the top 20 VPNs is $4.33/month. We use this as a comparison when looking for the best-value VPNs.
- Devices: VPNs are usually compatible with more than one device simultaneously. Obviously, the more, the better.
The best VPNs for HBO Max
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2023
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
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Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $6.66/month for 15 months
- $9.99/month for 6 months
- $12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
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2. Private Internet Access 🥈
The BEST low-cost VPN for streaming!
Pros
- ✅ Fast and reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Only 48 server locations
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speed: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.03/month for 3 years
- $7.50/month for 6 months
- $11.99/month for 1 month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1-million paying customers.
This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends.
If – for whatever reason – you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee.
From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
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3. NordVPN 🥉
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $3.49/month for 2 years
- $6.99/month for 1 year
- $11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And it’s easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers.
It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired a full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers’ connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations.
Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunneling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
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4. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $1.16/month for 5 years
- $3.50/month for 1 year
- $9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option.
This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease.
The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer.
For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
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(30-day money-back guarantee)
5. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
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Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well.
From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed.
That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either.
Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
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Does HBO Max block VPNs?
Yes, it does. As explained earlier, HBO Max tries to block VPNs in order to protect itself from potential fines it may face due to breaching copyright and licensing agreements it has with its content partners.
Customers using a VPN to watch HBO Max outside the US could be the reason for these breaches. So, to stop that from happening, HBO tries to block VPNs from accessing its streaming service.
It does this using a number of techniques, but the most common is it tries to identify and block the IP address your VPN gives you. The way it does this is by scanning for an abnormal number of connections coming from the same IP address.
See. Usually, only a handful of devices will connect to HBO Max via the same IP address. Because VPNs have hundreds or even thousands of customers, they often can’t provide each customer with their own IP address. When this happens, customers are forced to share IP addresses.
Now when hundreds or thousands of people connect to HBO Max via the same IP address, HBO knows it’s a VPN IP address, and it blocks the connection.
What VPNs work with HBO Max?
The VPNs that work with HBO Max are the ones that are fast enough, secure enough, have servers all over the world, and have measures in place to ensure they can get around HBO’s VPN blocking techniques.
From our tests, free VPNs often struggle with HBO Max. Free VPNs, more often than not, have the most customers around the world. This means there’s a much higher chance you’ll be sharing an IP address with hundreds of others, meaning it’s far easier for HBO max to identify and block your connection (as explained above.)
The best VPNs for HBO Max and the ones we’ve been personally using to watch HBO Max in New Zealand for years are ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month).
Both of these VPNs are incredibly fast and secure, and they have measures to ensure you can watch HBO Max reliably anywhere in the world.
Why do I need a VPN for HBO Max?
The main reason you need a VPN for HBO Max is so you can watch the streaming service anywhere in the world.
If you’re paying for HBO Max and you go overseas, you won’t be able to watch HBO Max. This means you’d be wasting money on a subscription that you can’t access.
A VPN allows you to watch HBO Max anywhere in the world by tricking the streaming service into thinking you’re located in the US. It does this by providing you with a US IP address.
HBO Max not working with VPN?
If you’re trying to watch HBO Max with a VPN and it’s not or has stopped working, HBO has managed to block the IP address your VPN has given you.
From here, you can wait to see if your VPN fixes the issue, or you can try and fix it yourself.
There are a few problems with waiting for the VPN to fix the issue. It might not be able to fix the problem. The fixes might take a long time, or the VPN might not even bother fixing it.
For these reasons, we recommend following our expert guide which will show you how you can fix HBO Max not working with VPN.
